Chapter 35
Thirty-Five
A princess must learn how to hunt as well as kill. For rations are never certain, and blockades are frequent.
Let me see how well you can run, my queen. - King Richard
Leaving the dungeons, all I want to do is fly straight to my queen, but my kingly duties are too demanding. So instead, I make a quick stop on the balcony, where I order the guards to deny anyone who tries to seek entry to our private floor. The Court will not poison Arienna’s ear today.
With a yearning glance down the hall, I spread my wings and take off again. I land outside the Throne Room; this floor of the castle opens up onto the branch of a tree rather than onto a balcony. This way, even those fairies who have lost their wings are able to come tell me their grievances.
All morning, I listen to their concerns, trying not to get distracted by the thoughts of my queen running through my head. No.
Not running.
Galloping through a meadow of roses that colour the gloom of Raza with the bright light of her smile. Her purity and belief in the world, that it can be something other than a living hel.
As soon as my duties allow, I send word to Ajax, the Royal Dressmaker. He’s to bring a dozen racks of his finest clothing up to my chambers. I didn’t get to watch my queen try on any dresses on our wedding night, but I’ll have that fantasy now.
Now that I get to keep her.
Now that I can consummate this marriage without being a total ass.
Dusk cannot come fast enough.
By the time I’m back on the balcony of the royal floor, I am buzzing with need. My cock twitches with every step I take, knowing exactly what it is I’m planning on doing. I played the scenes over and over in my head all day today, obsessing over all the different ways I’ll take her.
“Has anyone been in?” I ask the guards as I lower my wings and stride across the balcony.
“Only Ajax.” I gave him a letter stamped with the royal seal so he could get past the guards. “He left a few hours ago.”
“Pull all the guards in the halls to the exits only,” I say. Without breaking stride, I add, “You’re off tonight, Jace.”
The two of us know the Court won’t try to assassinate me again until Arienna’s crowned. She can’t become queen if I’m dead.
He chuckles, spreads his wings, and launches back into the sky, no doubt off to find his own pleasure for the night.
I grind to a halt, then swiftly turn. “Not Fabia,” I say as I look up at him. He might have been smiling and joking all day, back to his usual cheer, but I know he’s still on edge after all that’s passed between us. On the best of days, his tastes run too dark. Tonight, they’ll be bloody and raw.
“Diedre’s back in town,” he says before turning towards the city.
She’s an old… ‘friend’ who we fought with on the front lines back when Aurelia was alive.
She’s a regular of his and a necromancer, so I know she will be able to handle his mood tonight.
Pushing thoughts of them aside, I focus on finding my queen.
When I enter her room, she’s curled up on the sofa, with a book in her hands.
Within half a second, she’s jumped into the air, slammed the book shut, dropped it, and kicked it under the coffee table.
Part of me is curious as to what she was reading, but when she pivots to face me, all I can think about is grabbing her.
Because my beautiful queen is tripping over her own feet again.
Lunging forward, I quickly close the distance between us. Wrapping my fingers around one of her flailing arms, I yank her towards me. She stumbles into my chest. Her face tilts up, so damn red from her blush, and before she can squeak out a thank you, I press my lips to hers.
A low noise rises from the back of her throat, but oddly, it sounds more like despair than arousal.
I start to lift my head, immediately backing off, but then she’s following me, her lips chasing mine on a little sigh.
A smile breaks across my face. She must’ve been embarrassed about being caught with whatever book she had.
Now I’m really curious as to what it is.
But not right now. Now I just want her beneath me. On top of me. Sitting back on the counter again as I kneel between her thighs.
“Come with me,” I say as I slide my hands down to her ass and lift her into the air. Her eyes snap open as she pulls her head back.
“Where?” she asks nervously, and my cock hardens at the sight of her wary excitement.
Instead of answering, I just kiss her again and walk with her out the door.
By the time I peel my lips off her, we’re in my bedroom. Her eyes are hazy with lust, but when I set her down in front of a dozen racks of clothes, her gaze then fills with confusion.
“Um… what’s all this?”
“Clothes,” I say as I grab her hand and lead her to the first rack of dresses. “We’re having a ball in a few day’s time to celebrate the signing of the peace treaty between us and Vyla. You need a dress.”
“I have a dress. Ella’s given me loads of dresses.”
“Not like these,” I say, thumbing through the rack. The hundreds of tiny jewels sewn into the clothes twinkle under the bedroom light. “Pick some. I want to see you try them on.”
“Ah.” She clears her throat. “Um… I… Uh…” She breathes out as she screws up her brows in thought.
Then her eyes pop open as she smiles in triumph.
Gods, her face is so full of expression.
Genuine expression, not a mask to hide and twist and manipulate those around her; when’s the last time I’ve seen that in Raza?
“What about you?” she says with glee. “Why don’t you try things on?” She nods as if that is the best idea ever, and I realise she’s nervous about stripping in front of me. She’s hugging her arms across her waist now. She’s taking a few steps back as if she’s afraid I’ll pounce.
A slow smile curling my lips, I nod. “Okay.”
“Okay?” She suddenly looks more nervous. Perhaps she can hear the seduction in my tone.
Holding her gaze, I slowly start to undo the two black belts criss-crossing across my waist. Her mouth parts as she watches me.
Her eyes widen as I slide first one belt out of its loops, then the other.
A little noise escapes her as I drop them to the floor.
Never taking my eyes off her, I pull the wraps of my shirt out of my trousers.
Push the fabric back and let it fall to the floor.
“Ah…” she says, her cheeks heating. “Um…”
I snap open the button of my trousers. My cock’s so damn hard, thickening under her gaze, it’s a struggle to get them off. Bending down, I tug one leg out, then the other, still never taking my eyes off her.
She’s panting now. The blush on her cheeks has crept all the way down her throat. I wonder how far I can get it to go. How red she’ll be when she writhes beneath me.
Lunging forward at the nearest rack of male clothes, she grabs a random item and throws it at me. “Put that on!” she nearly shouts, and I’m so caught off guard, that it smacks me in the face.
A low rumble of laughter breaks free as the black silk covers my eyes. The idea of blindfolding her, of having her at the mercy of only being able to hear me coming. To feel me – Fuck, I haven’t been this close to coming prematurely since I was a teen.
Breathing deep, I push my orgasm back as I reach up and remove the shirt from my head.
She’s dragged the whole rack of clothes between us.
Keeping her head down, she rifles through them with a manic energy.
Grabbing a pair of black trousers, she throws them at me, but her strength is pathetic, and they fall onto the floor between us.
Instead of coming over to pick them up, my queen just throws another pair at me.
And a third and a fourth until finally the fifth one reaches.
Sighing, she sags against the rack.
“What do you think?” I ask as I stand dressed once more.
The black shirt hangs loose across my chest. A deep V cuts it down the middle, with leather straps criss-crossing across the gap.
Tight cuffs wrap around my wrists, but the sleeves are as loose as the rest of the shirt.
The trousers are black too but a slightly different shade.
My cock strains against the fabric, but I’m enjoying watching her squirm too much to cut our foreplay short.
She mutters something under her breath before she finds the courage to glance up.
She tries to keep her gaze above my waist, but that only lasts a couple of seconds.
Her mouth falling open, she practically drools as she ogles me, her gaze sweeping up and down, settling on the parts of me I want her to touch.
“Do you like what you see?” I ask, my voice husky and low.
“Oh gods,” she breathes. “How do you look better than you did without clothes?”
“Are you insulting me?” I ask, a laugh dancing amongst my words.
“I wish,” she grumbles. “Bugger, this is not fair.”
“What isn’t?”
She gestures at me in frustration. “You. This, this – this pure sexual, primal, delicious, statue of a body you have. Oh! Ugh – fuck me.”
My eyes hooded, I run them all up and down her body. “I will soon,” I promise. “But first I want to see you in a dress.”
She sucks in a breath. Then manages to squeak, “Why?”
“Because while you were trying on wedding dresses, all I could think about was tearing them off you.” I take a step towards her. “And when you came to me that night, you weren’t wearing one.” Another step closes the distance.
Frozen in place, she swallows.
I grab a dress off one of the other racks and hand it to her. “So put this on.”
“But it’s not a wedding dress,” she tries.
“Every dress is a wedding dress until we consummate.”
A breath rushes out of her. “But I thought we were looking for clothes for the ball?” she says desperately.
“And this dress is too uh… restricting.” She nods rapidly.
“You can’t have a restricting dress in Raza, can you?
It’s not safe. Ajax told me that, you know.
So you see, I don’t think that’s a good dress to try on.
In fact, I don’t think any of them are.”
My voice lowers, caressing her even as I stay out of arm’s reach. “You don’t think you can run in this?”
She gulps. “No?”
“Put it on, Arienna, and let us see.”
“What?”
“After you’re dressed, I will give you a head start. If you can make it to my study without being caught, I’ll let you sleep tonight.”
“You want me to run?”
I lean across the railing she’s still using like a shield and let my lips brush across her cheek.
“I want to catch you.” A low whimper escapes her.
Nibbling her ear, I whisper, “Put it on, my queen. Every second it takes you to get dressed is a second I’ll take off your head start.
” When she just stands there, I add, “One.”
Jerking the dress out of my hands, she tosses it over her head.
“Two.”
She yanks it down, trying to get it to settle over her black jumpsuit.
“Three.”
Shoving her arms through the sleeves, she stumbles back.
“Four.”
Her head pops through the hole, and I can see her trying to decide if it’s on well enough for her to run or if she should keep trying.
“Five.”
She tries for a second longer.
“Six.”
Pivoting, she races for the door.
My cock painfully hard, I readjust myself. I wait the few more seconds I planned on giving her. And then I chase my queen through the halls of our home.